I am another TWC user in Austin with two HD Tivos with TAs who lost all ability to watch or record any channel this week. Rebooting the systems solved the problem, but I called in anyway to complain. They gave me a refund on my HD Tier bill for 90 days and transferred me to support who promptly told me this was a common problem with TAs. The inference made was that I should just accept it and shut up.

Seriously? If I call TWC and I get this same response, my next phone call will be to DIRECTV and my next call to TWC will be to cancel my television service. I sure hope new DIRECTV TiVo boxes are still coming out next year.

Seriously? If I call TWC and I get this same response, my next phone call will be to DIRECTV and my next call to TWC will be to cancel my television service. I sure hope new DIRECTV TiVo boxes are still coming out next year.

..Al

All of my experience with DIRECTV is that their HD signals look terrible - and I have many friends and family members with DIRECTV. I don't need low quality TV, I'd rather read a book.

All of my experience with DIRECTV is that their HD signals look terrible - and I have many friends and family members with DIRECTV. I don't need low quality TV, I'd rather read a book.

I haven't looked at DIRECTV in a long time. I will need to do so before I make any decision to switch. PQ isn't that great with Time Warner either. U-Verse is another option for me, but not sure I want to go down that road. Had that early in the year before I moved to my current residence and I wasn't happy with their HD picture quality.

I stopped in the Port Ewen, NY office again today (10/21), and they're rationing out the TA's, just one to a customer until they get enough in, even though they've already started moving some premium channels to SDV (and have a massive addition to their HD lineup spread through the next month).
Perry

Having read about problems getting TAs in the Hudson Valley, I called TWC last week and asked if they had any TAs in the Port Ewen office that I could pick up on the weekend. They called the Port Ewen office and they gladly held one for me.

Got home a few minutes ago to find that the TiVo HD in my living room was completely locked up. Black screen, not responding to input, and not even displaying the yellow LED when pressing a key on the remote. The Tuning Adapter was blinking, and I power cycled it.

I rebooted the TiVo and after it finished booting I hit the "Live TV" buton. The menu went away (but the background video continued playing) but the TiVo locked up again. After booting the TiVo a second time it seems to have worked (it's acquiring guide data now).

Finally went upstairs to look at the TiVo in my bedroom, and it also was completely locked up. Both recording LEDs were active, but the TiVo was not outputting a video signal and not responding to the remote (no yellow LED when pressing buttons on the remote). The TA light was solid green. Rebooting now.

Tivo support has some sort of tech bulletin regarding "corrupted packets" locking up the Cisco tuning adapters but is unable to give me any info related to firmware revisions or possible solutions.

I have a tech coming back today to swap out the TA but it sounds like that isn't going to do much. I'll do my best to get this escalated ASAP.

The above symptoms are 100% TA related, but I'm also dealing with a hot signal issue (according to Tivo support). The Tivo is always pegged at 100% signal strength with a SNR of 38-40 dB. Tivo support suggested that I should target 80-85% and 32-35 dB. The TWC tech said that there was no such thing as too much signal and the line test looked good. I've tried attenuators but they drop the high frequency channels (700 MHZ+) below 50% strength and 29 dB long before bringing the low frequency channels to the suggested levels. Not sure if it is related, but it probably isn't helping the situation at all.

........I'm also dealing with a hot signal issue (according to Tivo support). The Tivo is always pegged at 100% signal strength with a SNR of 38-40 dB. Tivo support suggested that I should target 80-85% and 32-35 dB. The TWC tech said that there was no such thing as too much signal and the line test looked good. I've tried attenuators but they drop the high frequency channels (700 MHZ+) below 50% strength and 29 dB long before bringing the low frequency channels to the suggested levels. Not sure if it is related, but it probably isn't helping the situation at all.

TiVo support documents say 80-99 is the recommended range and as low as 65 is OK for the HD. I don't believe the 65. I think you need 80 or above.

TiVo is right that you can have too much signal for an HD tuner -- TWC is wrong.

I have variations across the channels like you, so when I get the lowest signals around 80 about a third of my signals are 100 (or above -- you don't know from the reading). I know they are only slightly above 100 because of what they were before I removed an attenuator. I seem to get by with them slightly above 100, I'm guessing 105 or less. Of course I do get occasional pixelation and freezing on some channels. I don't know if that's worst on the channels that are above 100.

TWC can measure signal strengths but I've heard they only do it at a few different frequencies. I don't know if they can do anything to make them more uniform across all channels.

Unless your cabling is new, it may pay to examine all cables, connectors and splitters that you can reach and replace any that might be old. I see posts where people say the cable co replaced splitters but I don't know if they did it for free or not. I think I'm responsible for the cabling inside my house but maybe not.

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Rather than looking at the signal levels, I would be looking at the RS Corrected and Uncorrected values. A lot of Uncorrected's could indicated a signal issue. If signal level is 100 but Uncorrected's hold at zero then all is well. Note that every time you change channels, the RS Statistics clear to zero. You can look at time since tune start to see how long of a period the RS stats 'covers'. My signal strengths run right at 100 or just a little under on my S3 and I have no problems (except for SDV channels but that is a different problem).

Also in Austin on TW. TA has dropped channels lately. ("Channel unavailable") A reboot restores. Now TiVo (2 cable cards) is also crapping out - i.e.: needs reboot. Last night TiVo refused any remote control, just came up black screen. Unplugging and replugging brought it back.

I don't know where to start. I sure don't trust that shows will be recorded.

If signal level is 100 but Uncorrected's hold at zero then all is well.

The RS Corrected/Uncorrected values do not change even though my signal must be well above 100% on the lower frequency channels and I routinely get audio drops, frozen picture, and macro-blocking. I can generate errors by disconnecting or heavily attenuating the signal so I know the counters are still working.

I'm posting my numbers here in case they turn out to be relevant to the tuning adapter issue, but for now I'm assuming it is a separate problem.

The RS Corrected/Uncorrected values do not change even though my signal must be well above 100% on the lower frequency channels and I routinely get audio drops, frozen picture, and macro-blocking. I can generate errors by disconnecting or heavily attenuating the signal so I know the counters are still working.

I'm posting my numbers here in case they turn out to be relevant to the tuning adapter issue, but for now I'm assuming it is a separate problem.

If you are getting breakups/pixelations with RS Uncorrected remaining zero then the problem is coming from the provider or there is something wrong with the mpeg TWC is generating or your TiVo is busted (HDD possibly). Are these problems on linear channels or just SDV channels?

If you are getting breakups/pixelations with RS Uncorrected remaining zero then the problem is coming from the provider or there is something wrong with the mpeg TWC is generating or your TiVo is busted (HDD possibly). Are these problems on linear channels or just SDV channels?

Looks like just the SDV channels so far. I noticed some comments in the Pixelation Troubleshooting thread (starting at #1190) about not seeing RS errors on SDV channels and wondering if that might apply.

I feel like I'm trying to troubleshoot multiple independent issues but all I get from TiVo and TWC is a lot of useless finger pointing.

Not sure whether I should be posting here or in Pixelation Troubleshooting, but it seems like the issue is related to TWC SDV.

I just had my tuning adapter swapped out for a new (fresh from the box) unit and within a few minutes I started seeing pixelation on some of the HD SDV channels. My understanding is that these numbers are right in the sweet spot for the TiVo:

Not sure whether I should be posting here or in Pixelation Troubleshooting, but it seems like the issue is related to TWC SDV.

I just had my tuning adapter swapped out for a new (fresh from the box) unit and within a few minutes I started seeing pixelation on some of the HD SDV channels. My understanding is that these numbers are right in the sweet spot for the TiVo:

At this point I think the TiVo tech support analysis of "too much signal" was wrong and this is actually an encoding/decoding problem as suggested by SCSIRAID in the SDV thread.

If you've been reading this thread you know there has been a flurry of TA problems in the Austin area -- however the symptoms are much worse than just some pixelation.

I agree with your analysis, but just to be thorough, how about your cabling, connectors and splitters? Are they all relatively new and in good condition? Also, a long shot, the short cable that comes in the new TA box used to be notoriously bad. Did the installer replace it with one he/she made up?

I get occasional pixelation and even freezes on some of my channels and my numbers are like yours. The only possible explanation I know of is just encoding parameters that the TiVo decoders can't handle, but which TWC's STB and DVR decoders do handle. I guess it's not impossible my problems could be cable/connector/splitter related. The house is 10 years old so I have just been assuming they should be OK. Frankly I'm afraid to have TWC mess with it. They might make things, including my internet, worse!

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Just to chime in, I have two month-old TIVO-HDXL units with TAs, TWCable in Austin. Both hung up last night about an hour apart -- one with the black screen on all channels (not just switched), the second with a frozen screen. Rebooting both TIVO fixed the problem but the one with a black screen hadn't recorded anything over the previous 18 hours.

Switched video went out earlier this week. I've already had TW out twice before, and each time it was resolved with them rebooting (I tried that, didn't fix it), then calling their support line and sending the adapter EMMs. This time, I followed the procedure described elsewhere in TivoCommunity -- unplug power and USB from the TA, count to 60, plug in power, wait for the light to go solid the second time, plug in USB. That fixed the switched channels on both TIVOs immediately -- no TIVO reboot required.

My signal strength is 87 on both TIVOs. It was 95 until the last tech messed with some stuff outside the house to bring the levels down a bit.

So I hope TWAustin figures out whatever is hanging the TAs.

Last edited by InvaderZim; 10-30-2009 at 11:47 PM..
Reason: Clarification

If you've been reading this thread you know there has been a flurry of TA problems in the Austin area -- however the symptoms are much worse than just some pixelation.

I agree with your analysis, but just to be thorough, how about your cabling, connectors and splitters? Are they all relatively new and in good condition? Also, a long shot, the short cable that comes in the new TA box used to be notoriously bad. Did the installer replace it with one he/she made up?

I get occasional pixelation and even freezes on some of my channels and my numbers are like yours. The only possible explanation I know of is just encoding parameters that the TiVo decoders can't handle, but which TWC's STB and DVR decoders do handle. I guess it's not impossible my problems could be cable/connector/splitter related. The house is 10 years old so I have just been assuming they should be OK. Frankly I'm afraid to have TWC mess with it. They might make things, including my internet, worse!

I also have the problem with the TA locking up. Mine has never caused issues with the TiVo itself, but obviously I do lose all the SDV channels. The replacement TA is still running fine but it's only been about 6 hours.

I gutted the old coax and replaced it with quad shielded RG6 using compression fittings. I have a direct feed from outside into my patch panel and a single 2-way splitter feeding the TiVo and one other TV so there isn't much to go wrong. I don't have a cable modem or TW phone service so my setup is about as pristine as you can get for testing.

I'm not sure what else I can do on the TA locking up issue other than log the times when it happens. With the pixelation issue I can at least continue to gather data and hopefully get it into the right hands at some point.

As far as I can tell, the SDV channels range from 705 MHz to 747 MHz in 6 MHz increments. Last night I sat and watched a channel at each frequency until I saw pixelation and then moved to the next frequency. Every SDV frequency showed some pixelation, typically within the first 10 minutes. Signal levels were always within the TiVo recommended range and RS errors stayed at zero in all cases.

As far as I can tell, the SDV channels range from 705 MHz to 747 MHz in 6 MHz increments. Last night I sat and watched a channel at each frequency until I saw pixelation and then moved to the next frequency. Every SDV frequency showed some pixelation, typically within the first 10 minutes. Signal levels were always within the TiVo recommended range and RS errors stayed at zero in all cases.

Is it ONLY the SDV channels that have the problem? That is the problem we have been chasing here in Raleigh. TWC/Cisco/Tivo are involved. The theory is that it is an MPEG Incompatibility between the Cisco rate shaper and TiVo.

Is it ONLY the SDV channels that have the problem? That is the problem we have been chasing here in Raleigh. TWC/Cisco/Tivo are involved. The theory is that it is an MPEG Incompatibility between the Cisco rate shaper and TiVo.

Yes, I believe it is limited to the SDV channels only. Sorry I forgot to include that in my last post. I can't confirm it 100% but I've watched several hours of HD on broadcast channels with no issues today. I'm logging everything at this point (times, channels, frequencies, signal levels) so I'll post an update if I see it on anything other than SDV. I'm happy to pass along any of my info if it will help them narrow down the problem.

Count me in as another Austin TA-locking-up victim. I noticed that we are still running .0701 firmware. I tried calling customer support to inquire about a firmware upgrade. They were clueless as expected, and suggest that I go to the service center and ask there. Um, yeah..I'm going to stand in line for 2 hours just to ask a question that the tech support people should know and be able to tell me over the phone. I'll try again during the week...the weekend crew seems to be made up of just warm bodies to answer phones and I've had pretty good luck talking to the techs in the late evenings during the week. /crosses fingers.

But in the mean time, it really seems to be a memory leak issue in the way it behaves...it is fine for stretches at a time and then locks up. So, to mitigate the issue for now, I've put the tivo and the TA on a separate power strip with a power switch. Once or twice a week I power cycle both of them as I'm going to bed and that seems to keep the problem at bay (for me, at least).

While the number of us in San Diego who have posted with the TWC/TA issue is fewer than in Austin, the similarity is uncanny (at least with my experience here): something changed in the past 6-8 weeks. I've had my TAs (two of them) since they were available earlier this year. Never had these issues. Recently the issue I saw in San Diego appeared in Austin as well, also with TWC. I too have learned that a weekly reboot has become necessary. Since we're the red-headed step children of customers with our TiVos and cable cards, only a threat of litigation will induce TWC to actually address the issue with somebody capable of solving it. At this point...or maybe endless truck rolls by everybody on the thread.

Truck roll #3 tomorrow. It's been upgraded to "unresolved problem" status so I'm slowly working my way up the chain. My goal is to get this to the point where you can talk to tech support and say "I have a TiVo, a Cisco tuning adapter, and am experiencing problem X" so that they stop treating this like a brand new problem each time someone calls in.

I will add my name to the list of folks with TA issues in Austin. I actually started having Tivo lockups a couple of months back. I had a lot of difficulty getting the adapters to initialize at all (one did eventually, the other never did). I began to have issues with being unable to tune any channel as others have. I got fed up. Both of my TAs are now sitting unattached to my TivoHDs. I hope that it does get fixed, but I would rather have no SDV channels than have random times with NO channels recording.

Nothing to report on the tuning adapter front at this time. Mine is still running fine but as soon as it locks up I will put in another call.

As for pixelation issues, the TWC tech set up one of their DVRs and we both recorded the same channel (1624 SCIHD) until there was a noticeable glitch on the TiVo. There was no matching glitch on the TWC DVR and neither unit showed any corrected/uncorrected blocks. I know this isn't surprising at all, but it helps rule out a few more things and still fits with the Cisco rate shaper theory.

Nothing to report on the tuning adapter front at this time. Mine is still running fine but as soon as it locks up I will put in another call.

As for pixelation issues, the TWC tech set up one of their DVRs and we both recorded the same channel (1624 SCIHD) until there was a noticeable glitch on the TiVo. There was no matching glitch on the TWC DVR and neither unit showed any corrected/uncorrected blocks. I know this isn't surprising at all, but it helps rule out a few more things and still fits with the Cisco rate shaper theory.

Yup... that is exactly what happens here. I will have some mpeg soon captured from the shaper that corrosponds with the glitches seen on TiVo. It will be interesting if the glitch occurs when i TTG it to TiVo.

Is it possible for SDV channel streams that originate at the same head end to arrive at two different drops (perhaps on different nodes) with differences in mpeg2 encoding? Or, in other words, can they get re-encoded at some point downstream of the head end? (I've heard the term "QAM Edge" used.)

I have occasional pixelation and some freezes on some channels, mostly SDV, maybe all. My RS error counts are always very low, almost always zeros. As I undertand it this means my TiVo is getting exactly the distributed digital signal to decode, correct? BTW there are many HD and SD stations on which I don't get any such glitches, and both my tuners read the same numbers for any given station. I've ruled out hard drive problems based on this and other factors (available upon request).

So here's an example that leads to my question:
My system just added an SDV HD channel (MNBCHD). I get frequent pixelation and freezes. I've determined that another TiVo user located about ten miles from me on the same cable system (but probably not on the same node) is NOT getting these problems -- and he watched for 45 minutes.
Again Signal Strrength, SNR, error counts are all good.

I can't imagine any explanation for this other than the other person is actually being fed a different signal than I am. (????)

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Is it possible for SDV channel streams that originate at the same head end to arrive at two different drops (perhaps on different nodes) with differences in mpeg2 encoding? Or, in other words, can they get re-encoded at some point downstream of the head end? (I've heard the term "QAM Edge" used.)

I have occasional pixelation and some freezes on some channels, mostly SDV, maybe all. My RS error counts are always very low, almost always zeros. As I undertand it this means my TiVo is getting exactly the distributed digital signal to decode, correct? BTW there are many HD and SD stations on which I don't get any such glitches, and both my tuners read the same numbers for any given station. I've ruled out hard drive problems based on this and other factors (available upon request).

So here's an example that leads to my question:
My system just added an SDV HD channel (MNBCHD). I get frequent pixelation and freezes. I've determined that another TiVo user located about ten miles from me on the same cable system (but probably not on the same node) is NOT getting these problems -- and he watched for 45 minutes.
Again Signal Strrength, SNR, error counts are all good.

I can't imagine any explanation for this other than the other person is actually being fed a different signal than I am. (????)

I would expect the answer to be 'no' but it could depend on the layout of the system. My understanding of our system here in Raleigh is that the rate shaping is done at the head end and then distributed to the hubs. The Edge QAM's in the hubs should all receive the same rate shaped source and then assemble the requested streams into transport streams for modulating onto a QAM carrier and shipping to the individual nodes that the particular Edge QAM serves.

I would expect the answer to be 'no' but it could depend on the layout of the system. My understanding of our system here in Raleigh is that the rate shaping is done at the head end and then distributed to the hubs. The Edge QAM's in the hubs should all receive the same rate shaped source and then assemble the requested streams into transport streams for modulating onto a QAM carrier and shipping to the individual nodes that the particular Edge QAM serves.

What could be other explanations? Could it be decryption errors, perhaps caused by a bad CableCARD? Wouldn't that show up on all encrypted channels? If one of the mpeg2 decoders is defective, it seems unlikely it would be just as bad on both tuners, and also not so bad or not bad at all on other channels. What else could do it?

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